Kansetsu was born in Kobe from a family of artistic background. Kaikan, his father was a painter, poet and scholar of Chinese classics, his mother an amateur painter and his grandfather a famous haiku poet. Because of his father’s reputation Kansetsu's parental home was a meeting point for artists and scholars from China as well as from Japan. After receiving his first training from his father, Kansetsu studied Shijô painting with Kataoka Kôkô (dates unknown). In 1903 he continued his studies with Takeuchi Seihô (1864-1942), who had just returned from Europe. Kansetsu and Seihô never got along very well and in 1923 they finally broke up. In 1913 Kansetsu travelled to China, a country he revisited more than 30 times. In 1921 and 1927 he went to Europe. Kansetsu was a member of the Art Committee of the imperial household and the Imperial Art Academy, and a constant exhibiter at the Bunten.